COUNTING CROWS – ” August And Everything After ” Released 14th September 1993

Counting Crows released their debut album, “August And Everything After” on this day in 1993. Born of the same decade that brought us plenty of soft, lyric-focused rock music from artists like Dave Matthews, Sister Hazel and Hootie & The Blowfish,When the prevailing guitar jingle of “Mr. Jones” cascaded over radio in the early ’90s, it was a sure sign that Counting Crowswere a musical force to be reckoned with. Their debut album, August and Everything After, burst at the seams with both dominant pop harmonies and rich, hearty ballads, all thanks to lead singer Adam Duritz. The lone guitar work of “Mr. Jones” coupled with the sweet, in-front pull of Duritz’s voice kicked off the album in full force.

The starkly beautiful and lonely sounding “Round Here” captured the band’s honest yet subtle talent for singing ballads, while “Omaha” is lyrically reminiscent of a Springsteen tune. The fusion of hauntingly smooth vocals with such instruments as the Hammond B-3 organ and the accordion pumped new life into the music scene, and their brisk sound catapulted them into stardom. On “Rain King,” the piano takes over as its aloof flair dances behind Duritzwith elegant crispness. The slower-paced “Raining in Baltimore” paints a perfectly gray picture and illustrates the band’s ease at conveying mood by eliminating the tempo. Most of the songs here engage in overly contagious hooks that won’t go away, making for a solid bunch of tunes. Containing the perfect portions of instrumental and vocal conglomeration, Counting Crows showed off their appealing sound to its full extent with their very first album.

August And Everything After reigns as something of a classic. Counting Crows went on to produce other hits—songs like the soundtrack staple “Accidentally In Love” from Shrek 2, and their cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”—but August And Everything After put them on the map with the always catchy (if kitschy) “Mr. Jones” and “Round Here,” a truly memorable lead-off track. Whether Counting Crows are high-brow or low-brow is still up for debate in the minds of many music fans, but rather than waste time debating their artistic validity, we’ll just leave some 1999 concert footage for you to watch below.

The album cover depicts handwritten lyrics to a song called “August and Everything After”, but the band decided against featuring the song on the album of the same name; it was not until over a decade later that it was played as part of one of their live concerts.

In 1999, another iteration of Woodstock Festival took shape in upstate New York. Counting Crows were there, and they performed several tracks from August And Everything After, including “Mr. Jones,” “Anna Begins” and “Round Here.” See them perform “Mr. Jones” below .

It’s been a quarter-century since Counting Crows debuted with August, but for their fans, Everything After has been pretty good, too. While you’re here, revisit our conversation with lead singer Adam Duritz from 2008. And, again, you can watch the band’s performance at Woodstock in 1999 below

Well, I'm dyslexic so writing about something I love: Music, might help but it's most likely just full of mistakes. That title is also lyrics from The Drones song called I Don't Want To Change. Oh, my name is William and thanks for having a look.